It is not completely clear exactly what happened at the Lock. There are lots of stories! From what I gather, there were bass boats from the tournament stacking up at the lock and there was a barge in the lock. I am told that one of the anglers called the Lock-Master on a cell phone and she gave them permission “run the rollers”. I find that hard to believe, but that is what is being said. The sad part is, that boats that showed up a little later and did not get “permission” (or know that permission had been given), waited to lock through, didn’t make their weigh-in times and were D.Q.ed for that day. The deal with why no one was D.Q.ed for running the rollers is, apparently no official protest was filed (there is a time limit on these) and so the officials were not sure exactly what had happened. No one knows exactly who all did it and who did not and whether “permission” was actually given.

But you are quite correct about this tournament and it officials. It was a nightmare from start to finish and there were definitely bad decisions being made on several occasions. This is not “normal” with the FLW organization, or the Everstart Series and I know for a fact that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the offices at FLW were busy working out details of these “problems” and making plans to see that they do not occur in the future. I am not defending them. I am just saying that mistakes were made and now, hopefully, they are straightened out. If the series comes back to Mississippi, and there is no reason to believe that it won’t, lets all hope they can conduct the kind of event that we are used to seeing from these folks.

De-Lure

The investigation is over and its now official! The wining Pro-Angler is Dave Lefebre of Erie, PA (see article in this month’s Bassmaster mag, page 54) and the winning Co-Angler is Paul Strege of Woodbury, MN. Congratulations to both of them. As for “Mr. Second Place”….well….he is in second place, just where he belongs. You can find all of the “official” info at http://www.flwoutdoors.com, click on at the Everstart logo. The final results were not up yet as of this writing, but the decision was made around 4:00 PM this afternoon and it should been there sometime this evening.

Thanks again for your interest,

De-Lure

I was at the weigh-in and have intimate knowledge of the events and the protest. I have known the tournament winner since he fished his first tournament in 1990 and met his Co-Angler winner (a very nice and very frustrated guy) that afternoon. I also met FLW’s VP, Charlie Evans and Tournament Director, Jerry Stakely and spent some time discussing this sad situation with them. Everyone who believes that this is B.S., Sour Grapes or Chicken-S**t on the part of “Mr. Second Place” is absolutely correct. Unfortunately, once the protest was officially filed the tournament officials had to consider it legitimate and treat it seriously. I do not know the FLW By-Laws or the tournament director’s guidelines (mostly because they would not tell me) but I believe that they could and should have made a decision on the spot. There was absolutely no evidence or collaborating witnesses to the supposed infraction (from either side) and it was clearly demonstrated that when the kill-switch was attached to the winning angler’s shoe it could not be seen by other competitors when he stood up from behind the console. Evidence that this was a “historical practice” of the winner was presented by myself and could have been collaborated by his first day partner, who happened to notice it and comment on it. No attempt was made to contact him. “Mr. Second Place”, on the other hand, has been known to make nuisance protests and “self-promoting” protests by the FLW officials on hand (as well as many of the other contestants). This along with the lack of evidence and lack of collaborating witnesses should, in my opinion, have brought about an immediate dismissal of the protest. But, this is not my job, and decisions were made by those whose job it was. I only hope that all of this will be cleared-up very soon and justice will prevail. This is the winner’s (and co-angler’s) “first big win” and it could not have happened to a nicer guy or a more competent and competitive angler. Keep your eye on this guy. You will be seeing his name again.

As for “Mr. Second Place” he certainly did not help his already poor reputation with his fellow competitors and I, for one, would like to know how he could sleep at night after what he did. I was personally appalled by his behavior and his manor and never, in a million years expected, to see that kind of amateurish and childish behavior from a supposed professional. If this is the way he conducts himself and if these are the methods that he uses to make money or to make a name for himself, then, I believe, there should be no place for him in professional angling. I believe that serious consideration should be given by all tournament organizations to which he belongs to not accept his future tournament applications. In my opinion, the sport of professional bass angling does not need the kind of bad press and ill-feelings, which are brought on by his unforgivable behavior.

Thanks for listening to my rant and please forgive me, if I stepped on anyone’s toes.

De-Lure